


Nobody'd Even Notice At All

by Gay_Jesus_Probably



Series: BMC Superhero AU stuff [3]
Category: Be More Chill - Iconis/Tracz
Genre: Anxiety, Child Neglect, Emotional Abuse, Emotional Manipulation, Emotionally manipulative cuddling, Implied/Referenced Torture, M/M, Sensory Deprivation, accidentally tho, hurt with a happy ending, like there's torture but it's not very described, the Squip is still an asshole, this au owns my goddamn life now so thats fun lmao
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-08
Updated: 2018-03-09
Packaged: 2019-03-28 12:56:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 11,464
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13904478
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gay_Jesus_Probably/pseuds/Gay_Jesus_Probably
Summary: The power to go unnoticed is convenient for a supervillain, but considerably less convenient for a kid growing up.Or, Jeremy's increasingly complicated relationship with his powers throughout his life.





	1. Childhood

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you haven't read the first two parts, and also the AU that spawned this, go do that, or this will make no fucking sense. That's required reading.  
> If you have read them, then enjoy!

When he was little, Jeremy went to three different pre-schools.

Pre-school had been necessary. Both of his parents worked full time, and neither was going to give up their careers to become a full time parent instead. They’d both taken as much time off as possible, between their respective parental leads, and saved up vacation time, but when he was three, they’d gotten him set up in pre-school, and that had been that.

Except not quite. For the first few weeks, all had gone well, except for a minor incident on the third week when Jeremy tried to pick up broken glass, and earned himself a furious lecture from one of the extremely worried caregivers, causing him to cry in front of all the other kids. Officially, it had been a minor incident, but in his young opinion, it was the most embarrassing thing that had ever happened to him, not helped by some of the older kids teasing him about it.

But on the fourth week, he’d been ignored.

As far as Jeremy was concerned, it was awesome. While the other kids were getting watched over, and had to stick to a schedule, he could do what he wanted. He played outside as much as he wanted, took seconds at snack, and best of all could spend as long as he wanted on his own without being urged to go and play with the other kids, or try to make friends.

It was the best. A bit lonely, but the best.

After about a month of being left to do his own thing, he’d fallen off the playground while playing alone, scraped pretty much his entire leg, and spent an hour sobbing outside alone before he’d been able to stand up again and go inside. When his mother picked him up and asked about his leg, he’d burst into tears again and told her all about it.

She’d been _furious_. Jeremy had never seen his mother so angry. She’d spent at least an hour yelling at the daycare staff about neglect, lawsuits, and potential antisemitism, all culminating in Jeremy being withdrawn from the daycare and taken home.

When his father had gotten home and found out what had happened, he’d been equally furious, and they had seriously debated filing a lawsuit, before deciding against it. A week later, Jeremy had started at a new daycare.

It had been different, and scary, and he didn’t know any of the grownups running it, so it was almost a relief when they left him alone too. He hadn’t wanted his parents to get angry again, so he hadn’t said anything to them, and was just very careful when playing outside alone.

The playground area was surrounded by a chain link fence, but the fence was old, and in one area the links against the ground were bent and raised. It was plausible that a small, determined child could wiggle through it if they felt the need to, but the caretakers were always careful to keep an eye on the little gap, and make it very clear that going under it was allowed under no circumstances, and anyone who tried was in time out for the next foreseeable forever.

Unfortunately, Jeremy was a deeply curious child, and was developing an increasing lack of respect for rules as a whole, so it shouldn’t have surprised anyone when after three months, he’d crawled under the gap, and gone exploring.

It had been fun, running around through the woods, but eventually he’d gotten tired and hungry, and decided to come back in for snack. But when he returned to the fence, he’d found that he couldn’t crawl back under it, the bend of the metal meaning that a child could get out of the playground, but couldn’t get back in. Attempts to climb the fence had been equally unsuccessful, and he’d eventually given up and gone around to the front door.

And then found that it was too heavy for him to open.

Which was how his father had found him, hours later at pickup, sitting dejectedly on the curb of the parking lot, tired, hungry and bored. Jeremy had spilled the whole story, relatively sure he was in trouble.

He had not been in trouble. The daycare people had been in trouble.

There was yelling again, and angry parents, and Jeremy had been taken out of that daycare too.

At this point, Jeremy had been four, and his parents had been very worried about how much their son was getting neglected. The third daycare had been rigorously researched, and his parents had visited in person and met the staff several times before they enrolled Jeremy in it.

He’d been nervous again, and had been hoping he’d be ignored as always, so he could play on his own, and not have to deal with strange adults. And sure enough, almost all of them had ignored him, and he’d decided to start his first morning by playing alone outside, and getting a feel for the playground.

But when he’d headed for the door, he was stopped by an amused looking woman, who had informed him that it wasn’t outdoor playtime right now, and he should try to make some new friends since he was new here.

Jeremy had been so surprised, he hadn’t even argued as she led him away, brought him to a group that was building block towers, and told him to join them.

The other kids had ignored him as soon as the lady left. Jeremy tried building with them for a while, but quickly got annoyed by them taking blocks from his pile, or even from his tower, and had stormed off.

He wanted a snack, so he’d headed for where he saw a kitchen, and been stopped by the same lady from earlier, who’d told him that it wasn’t snack time, and he should go play with some of the other kids.

He’d informed her that the other kids already had friends, and ignored him.

She had led him over to one kid sitting on his own, a boy with glasses. She’d introduced him as Michael, introduced Jeremy to him, and told them to play together. Then she’d left again.

Michael looked at Jeremy. Jeremy looked at Michael.

Jeremy sat down next to Michael. Michael scooted away slightly.

“So, why are you sitting here alone?” Jeremy asked, curious.

“Don’t like people.” Michael said, giving a look that was probably supposed to make it clear that _people_ included Jeremy. Unfortunately for him, Jeremy was not the most well socialized child, and did not pick up on that implication.

“Oh. Me neither, people always ignore me. Wanna go make stuff with play-doh?”

Michael had reluctantly agreed, but that was probably because there was music playing in the play-doh area.

By the end of the day, they’d decided they were best friends.

~

They’d ended up going to the same school, and being in the same kindergarten class. Kindergarten was fun, but Jeremy had already known how to read and count, so hadn’t really learned anything. Which was good, because the teacher ignored him as well most of the time. Jeremy was seeing a pattern. At least he had Michael.

Grade one had been… difficult.

The pre-school hadn’t had too strict of a schedule, beyond indoor playtime, outdoor playtime and snack. The kindergarten had been a bit more regimented, with different times for different activities. So the firm schedule of first grade wasn’t too difficult for Jeremy, with one exception.

The bathroom. Kindergarten and pre-school had had bathrooms right there that the kids could use whenever. In first grade, they had to put their hands up, wait for the teacher to call on them, and ask to go.

But when Jeremy put his hand up, it took a very long time for the teachers to notice him. Too long for a six year old to wait.

After a few weeks of embarrassment and having to change at recess, Michael came up with a solution. He would put his hand up, and ask if Jeremy could go to the bathroom. Which the teachers usually found amusing, but were fine with, especially since it could take almost twenty minutes for them to notice Jeremy, and the janitor was beginning to get annoyed about having to be called down to the first grade classroom.

So once that hurdle was cleared, Jeremy and Michael got through elementary school just fine, and soon their system of Michael asking questions for him grew, with Jeremy writing down any questions he had in class, handing the paper to Michael, and having him ask them. It worked, and well, and they both did well in class. Even if all their classmates just knew Jeremy as ‘that one kid who always had his friend ask if he could use the bathroom’. It also resulted in multiple questions from his parents about shyness and anxiety and if he was doing alright in class. Apparently due to him not asking questions and having Michael ask if he could use the bathroom, most of his teachers were fairly convinced Jeremy was mute.

He brushed off the questions as best he could, having long since learned that explaining that his teachers ignored him meant parents getting angry, and having to go and get ignored somewhere else. Which was the last thing Jeremy wanted, as any potential other schools would not have Michael in them, and would therefore be terrible. Michael was the best.

Michael’s moms were pretty cool too, even if they’d spent two weeks thinking Jeremy was Michael’s imaginary friend before they realised that their son had in fact been bringing another kid over. After that, they’d paid attention to Jeremy pretty regularly, and quickly felt like a second set of parents to him.

So all in all, elementary school was pretty good.

Middle school was not.

~

The first problem was classes.

Because classes were different now, and Jeremy and Michael had different homerooms, and therefor different classes.

During the second week of sixth grade, Jeremy had suddenly remembered exactly why he and Michael had their usual bathroom system in place, when he’d spent a solid half hour (he’d timed it) with his hand raised, waiting for the teacher to notice him and give permission to use the bathroom.

Spoiler alert: she hadn’t. The bell rang first, and Jeremy went during break.

This pattern continued for a while, until in November, when one day Jeremy was relatively certain he couldn’t hold it for another twenty minutes, and was desperate and annoyed enough to just stand up and walk out of class without asking.

The teacher hadn’t said a word, and neither had any of the other students. Nobody objected to him leaving, nobody was angry when he returned.

A few more hesitant tests over the year proved that as long as he was there for attendance, Jeremy could skip class as much as he wanted, without consequence.

Needless to say, seventh grade was a lot more enjoyable.

Oh, he went to most of his classes, but Jeremy was a restless child. When he was stressed, annoyed or distracted, it was great to have the option to just… get up and walk away. Run through the halls for a while (also not allowed, but no one ever stopped him), then return to class when he was feeling better. His grades that year were excellent, despite not being able to ask questions. The same went for grade eight, and then it was high school.

High school had its own challenges, but was also a bit easier. Michael and Jeremy had some classes together again, so Michael was able to resume asking questions for Jeremy in those classes. He’d also gotten used to Jeremy’s ability to just walk out whenever he wanted, and was openly jealous about it, albeit mostly as a joke.

Unfortunately, high school was also a melting pot of stress, hormones and puberty, and was when kids started getting _really_ vicious with each other.

Not that Jeremy was ever targeted by bullies… ever, but Michael was. Halfway through freshman year especially, one formerly quiet kid named Rich suddenly started speaking up, and also became a giant dick. Michael had to put up with shit for a while, before he developed a reputation as the weird loner headphones kid, and most people left him alone. No point making fun of someone who couldn’t hear you and didn’t care. Rich was the only real problem, occasionally shoving Michael against lockers, or various other things.

That kid had anger issues.

Sophomore year went in the same vein, of them having some classes together, and some apart. Jeremy started going to most of his classes just for attendance, and then immediately leaving and spending his day wandering around the school by himself. After school, he would go over to Michael’s house, and sleep over as much as possible. His parents were fighting more and more, over almost every topic that came up. Jeremy started stashing food in his room to avoid having to leave his room, and almost cried from relief when Michael gave him his noise cancelling headphones as a loan for however long he needed them. They were probably the only reason he could sleep at home anymore. He started noticing bruises on his father’s arms occasionally, and tried very hard not to think about their origins. His mother started being unable to notice Jeremy was in a room unless his presence was pointed out to her.

In the late spring, his parents divorced, and his mother left without fighting for custody. Jeremy gave the headphones back to Michael, as there was now almost no noise in the house to try and ignore, just the occasional sounds of TV. His father started exclusively working from home, and developed an aversion to pants.

Jeremy bombed that year’s finals, narrowly passing almost everything. He failed his math class by three percent, and out of desperation ended up waiting until his math teacher left the room, and then went up to his computer and moved his grade up by ten percent, heart pounding with fear the whole time. Skipping class was one thing, but blatant cheating was another. If he was caught…

But he _wasn’t_ caught, and the teacher didn’t notice the difference. He passed math, and never told anyone what he’d done, not even Michael.

He’d spent most the summer at Michael’s house.

One of Michael’s moms made tech for superheroes, so as a result, Michael was an enthusiastic fan of them, and kept Jeremy up to date on all the heroes and villains running around. That summer, a new supervillain began operating in their area, one who could make people fall into hysterical laughter just by talking. Appropriately, he was named Comedy, and apparently worked for a bigger, badder supervillain called the Squip. Whatever ominous plans he had were probably going to be unpleasant for them all, so Michael’s mom spent most of her time frantically working on better gear for the local superheroes, in the hopes that they could handle it before said unpleasant things came to pass.

But that was the most interesting thing to happen that summer, and their Junior year had started without incident. Jeremy’s resolution to attend class more had quickly been broken by him struggling to give a shit, and he’d eventually only been showing up just because Michael got sad and worried if he skipped too much.

A few weeks into September, he felt someone staring at him during lunch.

To his surprise, Rich Goranski had been staring at him, looking deeply contemplative. They’d made eye contact, and both immediately looked away.

Jeremy had written it off as surprising, and a potentially bad sign. Just his luck, the first time he starts getting reliably noticed would probably be to get bullied.

On Friday, he’d bothered to show up to math (might as well actually work at it this year, but he could always just sneak onto the computer and change his grade again), and left halfway through to use the bathroom.

Rich had followed him into the bathroom, locked the door, and talked to him.

And Jeremy’s whole life had flipped.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For the record: The preschool lady that could see Jeremy and introduced him to Michael? She was an ex-superhero, and her power was being 100% immune to any mind control or manipulation powers. Michael's moms sent him to that preschool just cause they knew that lady was there, and she could make sure no accidents happened with Michael. She was also immune to Jeremy's powers, and as a result never realised he had them. Whoops.  
> More chapters soon, because apparently this AU is my life now, and I was halfway through what will be chapter 2 before I went 'wait a goddamn minute this will work MUCH better as three chapters, I'll put ch. 1 up right now'. So Chapter 2 is on its way already lmao.


	2. Tragedy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh man. This one's... a bit longer than the first chapter. Just a bit.  
> Enjoy!

He’d spent the drive halfway to a panic attack. He was meeting a supervillain. He was sitting in a car with a supervillain, on the way to meet a worse supervillain. This was insane, and he was going to die.

But the Squip wanted to offer him a job. A job! More importantly, the Squip knew about Jeremy’s powers, and wanted to teach him how to control them. Could teach him how to control them.

Oh, he was suspicious, sure. Supervillain and all that, so the offer was probably a bit worrying, but god _damn_ Jeremy was tempted.

The meeting with him was just the two of them, and lasted for an hour. The Squip was amazing, talking to him about various options, and how exactly Jeremy’s potential career as a supervillain could go for him, the cover stories to protect their respective civilian identities, and the training that would be needed. He’d clearly put a lot of thought into it, and it was amazing. By the end of the meeting he was almost vibrating with excited energy from all the attention, and it was a high that not even the casual death threat could bring down. He’d gone home with his head spinning, and fed Michael the cover story, half wanting his support, and half wanting someone to talk him out of it. He’d gotten the support, and that had been enough. The next week, he’d agreed to the offer, and started training immediately.

~

The training and first few missions had been difficult. He’d been wrestling with his conscience, and the guilt of hurting people, of lying to Michael. Sometimes at lunch, Michael would say something about how Jeremy was busy with work all the time, and Jeremy would want to tell him the truth, but then he’d think of the Squip, or he’d see Rich on the other side the lunch room, and he would stay quiet. Michael’s mother fought supervillains, and he idolized her. He wouldn’t understand.

But that didn’t mean Jeremy didn’t wish he could tell him.

~

Things changed after meeting the new hero, the one who could control minds. Tragedy failed to complete a mission.

Jeremy earned his first real punishment.

He had meant to return to school on Monday, and act like everything was fine. But there were too many people in the halls, and the walls were too constraining, and it was too loud, and all those people were looking right through him like he wasn’t even there, and he couldn’t handle it. He couldn’t even show up to his first class to be marked present.

He went outside, climbed to the top of the empty bleachers, and tried to just be for a while, knees pressed against his chest. He wished he never had to see the Squip again. He wished the Squip would show up right now and hold him again.

He wished he could convince himself he was okay.

There was the sound of shoes climbing metal, and he looked up to see Rich coming up the stairs of the bleachers to join him. He sat down with a quiet greeting, and said nothing else. He didn’t need to.

Rich also looked haggard, and peeking through his long sleeves was a visible ring of bruises on his wrists. There were probably more hidden under his clothes. Jeremy didn’t know what the Squip had done to him, and didn’t want to ask.

Hesitantly, Jeremy leaned against him. Rich started, but was quick to wrap an arm around Jeremy’s shoulder, the two leaning into each other.

They stayed there for a while, and when they went back inside, Jeremy felt ready to handle the day.

~

Michael was clearly worried about him, and doing a poor job of hiding it, but he’d apparently picked up some new hobby he refused to talk about, and as a result was too busy to do much to try and help. Jeremy had conflicted, confusing feelings on that, as he was fine and wanted Michael to stay the hell out of it, but at the same time desperately wanted Michael to find out everything and rescue Jeremy from the Squip. It was all very confusing.

So when they both had time to hang out (which was increasingly rare), they stuck to safer topics, and just generally enjoyed spending time together. Even if it was something as simple as going to seven eleven at midnight in a fit of insomnia induced spontaneity.

Said insomnia may be getting to Michael, as he appeared to be staring intently at a bag of sour cherry balls, looking at it like it held the secrets of the universe.

Jeremy finished his browse of the chip aisle, and joined him.

“Did those sour cherry balls offend you somehow?” He asked, mildly amused. Michael just scowled.

“Ugh, I’m broke as hell right now, but I really want sour cherry balls. But at the same time, I would rather die than skip my slushie. And I’m doing the mental math to see if I can afford both, and it keeps coming up as a no.”

Jeremy patted him consolingly on the shoulder.

“Capitalism’s bullshit man. Fuck the system.”

“And fuck the police. Superheroes are all that we need.”

Jeremy disagreed with that last point, albeit just for his personal safety, but only nodded.

“Fuck the police.” He echoed, suddenly remembering how just two days ago a police officer had tried to arrest Comedy, and had been surprised by Tragedy whacking him in the head with his own baton. The news had said the man was still hospitalized with a concussion.

Unaware of Jeremy’s thoughts, Michael just grinned a bit at his words, before heading to the slushie machine.

Michael poured and paid for his slushie, and Jeremy waved him outside to go get the car started while he finished up.

Then he focused on his powers, and made sure that he was invisible to the single cashier running the place, and to the cameras.

A minute later, he was leaving the store with his own slushie, a bag of chips, and two bags of sour cherry balls.

Admittedly, there was probably something a bit ridiculous about a supervillain using his powers to shoplift, but Jeremy had been doing it for a while now. Almost all of the money the Squip paid him went into savings (he should save up for university, his own car would make life much easier, and the Squip had been talking about him needing an apartment in the city once he was done high school), but he still had to buy things. Much cheaper to just… take them. Not like any of the employees or cameras could actually see him to stop him, or follow any legal action later.

Besides, it was usually for important things. Bandages, painkillers, advil, new clothes – his own had been getting ruined at an alarming rate, through training and sparring and whatnot. And after a visit to Rich’s house, he’d started stealing food as well, and giving it to Rich.

Stealing some candy for his best friend was also important, as far as Jeremy was concerned. Making Michael happy was always a good cause.

Also, he could have bought them, but he was tired and didn’t feel like supressing his powers enough to talk with the cashier. Fuck that.

Michael grinned when Jeremy came out and handed him the sour cherry balls, and then gave them a suspicious look.

“Dude, did you shoplift these?”

“Yup. I’m awesome, right?”

“ _Dude_.” He repeated, sounding considerably less pleased than Jeremy was.

“…What?”

“What if you got caught? You could be in trouble, you know they have security camera’s, right? You have money! You have a job! Just buy them!” Michael yelled, gesturing a bit angrily.

Jeremy automatically shrank back in his seat, the seatbelt suddenly feeling too constricting. Which was completely ridiculous, of course, Michael was wonderful and his best friend, but well… Michael. Not really intimidating, or even strong. Besides, he’d never hurt Jeremy, not really, and probably couldn’t if he tried.

Jeremy just… didn’t like being yelled at when he wasn’t on a mission. It reminded him of the Squip in a bad mood, and it was enough to set him on edge.

Michael noticed, because of course he did.

“Sorry Jer, I shouldn’t have yelled at you. Just… don’t commit crime? Especially not for me. And especially not for some dumb candy. But thank you. Pay for it next time.”

Jeremy sat back up, did his best to look like he’d been perfectly relaxed the whole time, and gave a mostly sarcastic salute. Michael laughed, made some dumb joke about the army, and just like that they fell back into easy conversation.

Jeremy makes a mental note not to shoplift around Michael anymore.

~

A few weeks and a few more encounters with the blindfolded hero later, Jeremy found himself in Michael’s basement, googling himself.

Michael is not aware that they’re googling about Jeremy. He’s just weirdly interested in Tragedy, and had taken to ranting about how ridiculously OP his superpower is, and how goddamn interesting he seems. It’s a little awkward, and also a little flattering.

Jeremy hadn’t actually tried to research his supervillain identity before, and he was surprised how much came up. There was an official Wikipedia page about him with the sparse knowledge that was considered official so far, plus a blurry picture of him with his mask on. There was a supervillain fan forum that was tracking all of his known appearances, and also speculating wildly on the ones they might not know about. They’d actually gotten a few right too. Good on them.

Unsurprisingly, Jeremy's forum had also linked to three other tracking pages. Comedy's was, unsurprisingly, a lot more informative, due to him having been around longer, and also not being literally impossible to to notice. The Squip also had a page, which was a bit surprising, as he liked his anonymity, and he liked it a lot. And used his technomancer powers to enforce that fact. It wasn't surprising that there was next to nothing on the page, and he was willing to be the Squip kept an eye on it, and scrubbed any real information the forum people managed to get. It was how he was.

Tragedy's page also linked to the superhero forum pages. One specific page, for a hero named Adonis.

"Who the fuck is Adonis?" Michael asked, squinting at the link. Jeremy shrugged, equally confused, but with a very likely theory.

Clicking on the link confirmed that theory, as Adonis seemed to be the name they were going for with the blindfolded hero. Upon realising that fact, Michael let out an honestly hilarious, semi-horrified squeak, and turned bright red.

"Oh my god, they're calling him Adonis now?"

"Yeah, seems accurate to me. He's literally the most beautiful human being in existence. That's kind of his thing." Jeremy pointed out. Michael was still red, and had a hand covering his mouth.

Jeremy saw what was going on here.

"You have a crush on him, don't you?" Jeremy asked, a teasing tone in his voice.

"What-? No - I don't - that's completely ridiculous, I'm just... um... a fan, and this is not convincing you in the slightest, is it."

"Nope."

"Shit."

"Michael, you know I love you even if you're gay. Let it out."

"I am literally wearing a rainbow patch you do not need to have the 'accept you're gay' talk with me."

"Then stop denying your love for Adonis, you giant nerd."

Michael made a hilarious groaning noise, and completely buried his face in his arms, slumping dramatically over onto his desk. Jeremy patted his shoulder sympathetically.

"There there. I think you were made for each other."

"Thank you. Me and Adonis appreciate your support. You're invited to the wedding." Michael said, voice somewhat muffled by hoodie and drama.

"He is hot though. Kinda curious to see what he's capable of, like, overall? I mean all we've really seen is him throwing down with Tragedy and Comedy, and those are barely even fights. I want my money back, this is hardly interesting. I'm going to write Adonis such a stern letter."

For some reason, Michael cracks up at that, and Jeremy is happy to just be for a while. Later on when they inevitably move to the beanbag chairs, it takes a while to get comfortable. He'd gotten into an argument with the Squip the day before, and the burns on his back from the electricity are still raw and painful.

But everything has its price, and this is the price he pays for the Squips guidance.

He's fine.

~

It takes a while for Tragedy to realise Adonis is hitting on him.

In his defence, he doesn't exactly have experience with flirting. Ever. The only people he talks to regularly are his father, Michael, Rich, and the Squip, and flirting is not on the table for any of them for specific reasons. Said reasons being, in order, disgusting, kind of weird considering the last twelve years of friendship, Rich is... Rich, and there's so much Nope around even the thought of flirting with the Squip that Tragedy's brain would probably explode in self defence if he lingered on the topic for too long. Just, in general, no.

So flirting is a thing that hasn't happened to Tragedy before.

Which is why it's very surprising when, while Tragedy is fleeing a crime scene, Adonis yells something along the lines of 'I hate seeing you leave, but I love watching you go'. Later that evening, a deeply confused and mildly flustered Jeremy asks why the hell Adonis would say something like that, and gets very unimpressed looks from both Rich and the Squip.

"You... you have noticed he's been hitting on you, right?" Rich asks after a moment, expression both dubious and very concerned.

"Wait, what." Jeremy says, very intelligently.

"He's right. Adonis has been using increasingly obvious pick up lines on you in battle since your third meeting, likely in an attempt to play mind games with you. Good to see you finally noticed." The Squip deadpans, not bothering to look up from whatever weird technological monstrosity he's building. Whatever it was, it needed some extremely rare and delicate parts, and Tragedy had to be the one to get them. Really, next he was going to send them out to pick up milk or something."

"You're kidding. Right? The whole time? And I haven't been able to tell?"

"He's probably fucking with you, man. What an asshole. Bet he's straight too. Just ignore it, he's just trying to get inside your head." Rich says, shrugging a bit. "Would be nice if he was flirting for real though. God, can you image? He's fucking gorgeous."

"Eh, he's decent looking." Jeremy said, lying through his teeth. Rich just gives him a flat, unimpressed look, not buying a word of that, bu let's it slide. Nice of him.

They slip back into silence, the Squip borderline zen as he works on his whatever the hell, while Rich and Jeremy both take advantage of that to just relax. They can't go home yet, just in case there's something else the Squip needs them for. But, to be fair, neither of them particularly want to go home. Rich's father is a piece of shit, and is the kind of person Rich is justified in avoiding. Jeremy's father isn't as bad, but isn't really much that someone wants to come home and spend time with, unless someone is interested in returning to a man in his underwear watching cat videos on the couch. That's not exactly helpful, and doesn't do much in the way of supporting him. These days, Jeremy is mostly bouncing between school, Michael's house, and the Squip's lair as much as possible. It's not ideal - Michael's been busy more and more lately, and they don't have the time to hang out nearly as much as they used to. And the Squip's lair isn't always the safest place to be. While it's the only place where Jeremy doesn't have to keep secrets about who he is and what he's doing, the Squip is... not always the nicest person to be around. When he's angry, it's usually best to be out of his way, and not a pontential outlet for that anger.

Really, these days Jeremy's been spending a fair amount of his time with Rich. When neither of them want to be at home, and the Squip is in a mood, or angry with them for some reason, the best option they have is to be out wandering around. Rich and Jeremy have done a lot of midnight visits to Denny's or Waffle House.

Both of them are looking forwards to the end of high school. It means being legal adults, and being able to use their money to rent apartments. It means more freedom, and getting away from their shitty home lives. And sure, it puts them closer to the Squip, but it's not like they can get away from his anyways.

But for now, they're just two Junior's who are part time supervillains, laying around in their bosses lair, waiting to see if he needs them to do something, or if they're allowed to go. Nothing they can do now but play cards.

~

After Jeremy realizes that yes, his arch-nemesis is blatantly hitting on him, things fall into something of a routine. School, work, ignore Adonis's flirting, hang out with Michael, hang out with Rich, avoid upsetting the Squip. The usual.

Sure, he's starting to get famous. Which is, in of itself, weird as hell. But he's famous as Tragedy, and his fame is basically for being 'that one supervillain who disapears and doesn't react to Adonis hitting on him what the fuck'. There are many comments online from various fangirls who would apparently kill to be in his position. Jeremy would give them his powers and life in an instant. It kind of sucks. And Adonis can't actually be queer... can he?

As it turns out, yes, yes he can.

Jeremy finds out like pretty much everybody else does.

On the news.

He has the night off, and is hanging out in the living room watching the news. It's mostly to placate his dad, who is beginning to raise concerns about how little Jeremy's been around lately, but it is legitimately nice to spend some time with his dad. Even if part of him hates the man for not noticing that his son has superpowers and is a goddamn supervillain working for one of the worst villains around.

He's mostly playing on his phone, only half listening to the news, until they mention an interview with Adonis, drawing Jeremy's attention. They're clearly at the end of a crime scene - there's still police cars, and he can literally see a guy sitting in the back of a police car looking pouty. That reporter must have booked it to get there.

And it was clearly Adonis who arrested the guy, as he's standing right there, looking slightly ruffled, but still impossibly beautiful, even with his blindfold in place. He's gorgeous. God, Jeremy hates him.

"So, Adonis, is there anything you'd like your fans to know?" The reporter asks, the grin on her face leaning a bit towards flustered. Jeremy can relate to that.

Adonis looks between the reporter and the camera for a long moment, mouth set in a solid line of either disapproval or panic. Possibly both.

"I'm gay." Adonis blurts out.

Jeremy's first thought is 'ah, so it had been panic'.

His second thought is 'wait what the fuck'.

This changes everything.

This changes everything.

What the fuck.

Adonis is gay. Adonis is actually, legitimately, gay. And might be actually interested? And Jeremy might be actually interested in him being interested? It's a clusterfuck of emotions, and not one he wants to sort through while sharing a couch with his father.

Apparently Adonis is also of the opinion that that was a bit heavy, because he flashes a grin, spins on his heel, and runs like hell in the opposite direction, hopping a fence and then vanishing. Nyoom.

Parkouring away from his problems. Jeremy can relate.

But Jeremy shouldn't relate, because that is a superhero, and Jeremy is a supervillain, and Adonis is his arch enemy, and they have epic battles all the time, exept those epic battles are usually Adonis flirting while Tragedy tries to ignore him and make it clear he's not interested, except maybe he is??? Maybe??? Jeremy doesn't know.

He does the only thing he can do in that situation.

He vanishes from his father, bolts for his room, and panic texts Rich.

_Me_

_DUDE_

_SO_

_UH_

_ARE YOU WATCHING THE NEWS?_

_Rich_

_no bcause im not a suburban middle aged married mother of two_

_wtf happened?_

_Me_

_JUST_

_GOOGLE 'ADONIS INTERVIEW'_

_YOULL PROBABLY FIND THE CLIP WITHIN LIKE FIFTEEN MINUTES_

_Rich_

_yes but who has the time_

_just tell me what happened tall ass_

_what did adonis say_

_beyond confessing his undying love for u or whatever the fuck_

_Me_

_hes gay_

_adonis is gay_

_adonis is gay and he came out on national television and just_

_OHHHHH YM GOD HE MIGHT BE ACTUALYL INTERESTED IN ME I CANT HANDLE THIS AJSGBSGH_

_Rich_

_dude holy shit_

_you could fuck him to the dark side_

_Me_

_CAN U MAYBE NOT_

_RICH NO_

_Rich_

_rich yes_

_Me_

_RICH NO AND THAT IS FINAL_

_oh my goddddd ic ant cope this is instane_

_Rich_

_instane_

_Me_

_shut up you know what i meant_

_but like_

_how tf am i supposed to do this now?_

_just like_

_fight adonis, not acknowledging that he's gay as hell and i'm bi as hell?_

_does he even know i'm bi???? i dont think i advertised that_

_Rich_

_not on live television, god get on his level_

_Me_

_YOU_

_ARE NOT_

_HELPING_

_Rich_

_fuck you im always helpful_

_idk maybe come out to adonis?_

_see what happens_

_itd be funny if nothing else_

~

As it turns out, it is in fact pretty funny. Tragedy outs himself as bisexual. Adonis panics, and recovers with a pickup line. Tragedy panics twice as hard, and throws a cat. Jeremy feels bad and adopts the cat.

It's a weird night.

At least Tigger is a good cat, so that's something. Fun. He hadn't expected this supervillain thing to end with pet ownership, but apparently that's how it's going.

Everyone approves of the cat except Michael, which is okay because Tigger doesn't approve of Michael either.

The next time he sees Adonis, his face is covered in still-healing scratches, and it's hilarious.

Hopefully it won't scar. That would be a waste of good looks.

Adonis apparently hasn't learned his lesson, because he continues flirting. Thankfully, Tragedy has learned, and manages to flirt back, at least a bit. Not often, but when he does, Adonis turns bright red, and immediately gets flustered. It's kind of funny, and very useful. The Squip encourages it, which is a bit awkward, but okay. It's an order Jeremy was following anyways, so it's not really a problem.

Jeremy is stressed, but mostly fine. He spends a lot of time convincing himself he's fine. He's sleeping even less than usual, and barely shows up to classes. He spends less time with Michael, and more time with Rich. He gets better at hiding the scars the Squip leaves on him, both physical and mental. On one covert mission to steal more pieces of weird obscure tech, he gets into a fight with a hero who isn’t Adonis, one who doesn’t mind actually knocking Tragedy around. He gets away, but the scuffle ruins the thing he stole, and the Squip is furious. Jeremy goes back in the dark, silent room, only for a few hours this time, and the Squip has forgiven him when he’s let out. It’s a good lesson though. Reminds him about what’s important.

After he’s let out, when the Squip is cuddling him on a couch to help him calm down, he raises the idea of Tragedy taking advantage of Adonis’s crush, and trying to get him on their side.

Jeremy agrees, doing his best to ignore the pit of guilt and dread that the thought puts in his stomach. Instead, he buries his face in the Squips chest, and tries to feel safe.

~

A week after his second time in the room, Tragedy is sent on another stealth mission. He's interrupted again by a hero, this time by Adonis.

They fight on a rooftop, but his heart isn't really in it. Their usual banter, flirting mixed with some light violence, isn't coming easily tonight. Not with Tragedy well aware of the Squips orders to try and seduce Adonis onto their side. The thought of Adonis being just like Tragedy and Comedy, just like Rich and Jeremy, electrical burn scars covering his back, every move being monitored, not being able to handle being in the dark or the quiet.

Tragedy knows he's in a bad situation, but he's in too deep to quit now. But just because he's resigned to his fate doesn't mean he wants to drag Adonis down with him.

His apprehension and worry shows in his fighting, and soon enough Adonis breaks away, lowering his hands. He doesn't try to remove his blindfold, or drop a pick up line. He looks almost as tired as Tragedy feels.

"What are you doing?" Tragedy asks, still somewhat suspicious. Adonis shrugs, and sits down on the rooftop.

"You're not really feeling it tonight, I can tell. Nothing's getting done. No point in us fighting, might as well take a break."

Tragedy stares at him for a long moment, trying to find the trap. Adonis just sits there, looking out at the city, an almost pensive expression on his face.

Tragedy sits down beside him.

"So... are you okay?" Adonis asks, turning to look at him with worry.

"No. Not really." Tragedy says honestly.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"No."

"Okay. Well... if you need help, you know, I'm here for you. We might be on opposite sides, but you still matter to me. I want you to be okay."

"But I shouldn't be okay! I mean - I'm a supervillain. Not being okay is kind of the job description. Happy people don't do things like this."

Adonis is quiet for a while, trying to think of a response to that.

"I have this friend. He kinda reminds me of you, honestly. He's really quiet, slips under the radar a lot, mostly gets ignored. And he's been really sad lately. But I know he wouldn't do something like this, because he knows I've got his back. Always."

"Does he know you're a superhero?"

Adonis turns red slightly.

"Well... no, he doesn't know that detail. It's for his own safety. If I told him, he'd be up worrying about me anytime I was on the news, and might get tangled up in all this. It's safer to keep him in the dark."

They're quiet again for awhile, before Tragedy speaks up.

"My best friend doesn't know I'm Tragedy. He doesn't even know I have powers. Not even my family know. The only people who really know me are Comedy and the Squip." He says, hands picking at the fabric of his pants. He's not supposed to fidget while in costume - bad for his image. But he's also not supposed to sit down and have emotional conversations with superheroes, so might as well go for broke.

Adonis scoots a bit closer.

"I'm sorry that you can't tell them about this part of your life."

"I just - I wish that I didn't have to. I wish that they'd notice that something is wrong, and that they'd do something, but they don't. They never do. Guess I'm too good at hiding." Tragedy says, something bitter in his voice, a resentment he didn't even know he felt.

"I'll always notice you." Adonis says, and it feels like the truth. Tragedy still doesn't believe him.

"No you don't. I could take my mask off right now, and you wouldn't know I'm sitting beside you. That's just how my powers work. ...But I appreciate the sentiment."

Adonis gives him a small smile, and moves closer again. Their arms press together. It's not quite leaning on each other, but it's close, and the physical contact is nice. He wishes it was more, but the Squips orders to seduce Adonis are still ringing in his mind, so he stays as he is. He doesn't want to hurt Adonis.

They stay like that for a while, until Tragedy feels a warning prickle of electricity on his spine. The Squip is getting impatient, and wants Tragedy to get the hell back to work.

He makes an excuse, stands up, and leaves.

Adonis watches him go.

~

It's over.

The Squip has Adonis.

It was easy, really. He dropped his guard around Tragedy, always. Simple enough to take him by surprise, knock him out, and bring him back to the Squip. He barely had to try.

And now Tragedy is just sitting here. Watching as Adonis is electrocuted. He's screaming, and the Squip is laughing, and Tragedy sort of wants to die.

It stops for a moment, and Adonis hits the ground with a thud, limbs clearly shaking too badly to hold him up. He's staring, staring at Tragedy, with betrayal written on every part of his face.

"Why? Why would you do this to me?" Adonis asks, voice weak and ragged.

"I'm sorry. I didn't have a choice." Tragedy says weakly, the excuse sounding pathetic even to his own ears.

The Squip is suddenly behind him, and he wraps his arms around Tragedy.

"You did very well. I'm so proud of you. A perfect tool."

Normally, he would like the praise, the affection, would seek it out, would do anything to earn it, but today the Squips arms are too tight and constraining and his words are burning in Tragedy's ears. He struggles, and-

And suddenly it's all gone. The Squip, Adonis, the warehouse.

It's just Jeremy and Michael.

Michael is glaring at him, loathing in his face.

"You're a monster. I can't believe I thought you were my friend. I never want to see you again." Michael spits out, turning away.

Jeremy makes an awful, wounded sound, and tries to move in front of Michael, but his eyes won't see Jeremy anymore, only skip over him like he isn't even there, and he's invisible and nothing and oh god-

~

Jeremy wakes up in a cold sweat.

His heart is racing uncomfortably fast, and he's tangled up in his blankets. His bedroom is dark and quiet, the light from the street filtering in through the window.

His clock reads two in the morning.

Jeremy groans, and buries his face in his pillow, trying to calm himself down. It was just a dream. Michael doesn't hate him, and can still see him. Adonis isn't captured. Adonis is off doing... whatever Adonis does when he's not fighting crime. Jeremy's okay. They're okay.

It's okay.

Still, the nightmare says a lot about what Jeremy thinks about his mission to capture Adonis. To get him on their side, either willingly or by force.

He doesn't want to do it.

He doesn't want the Squip to have Adonis.

It's a breakthrough, sure, but not exactly the best one to have right now. Jeremy's feelings on the matter aren't really important. The Squip wants Adonis, and what the Squip wants, the Squip gets. Being a stubborn idiot just makes life more unpleasant for Jeremy.

But even still, he thinks that if Adonis was captured by the Squip, life would be pretty unpleasant anyways. He’s trapped between a rock and a hard place.

His increasingly dark thoughts are interrupted by something jumping onto the bed. Something orange and fuzzy.

Tigger makes a concerned little noise, and bumps his head against Jeremy’s face. Despite it all, he smiles, and pulls the cat in to cuddle.

At least Tigger will always love him.

~

"How's your project to seduce Adonis going?" The Squip asked, as if he didn't already know everything Jeremy did.

"It... is a work in progress. I'm moving slowly, don't want him getting suspicious." Jeremy said, lying through his teeth. He wanted Adonis to be suspicious. He wanted Adonis to doubt him. He wanted Adonis to know that something was wrong with Tragedy, to be suspicious, to avoid the trap.

With any luck, it would work.

The Squip didn't seem impressed.

"Yes, you are moving slowly. He's infatuated with you already. Pick up the pace. I want him in my possession by next week."

Shit.

"That- that's not enough time. I'm not going to be able to convince him of anything that quickly, I might not even see him before then. I swear, I'm working on it, just give me more time. I'll bring you Adonis soon, I just - I just need a while longer." Jeremy says, half explaining, half begging.

The Squip gives him a long, assessing look.

"You've been taking quite a while to accomplish this already. I might even think that you don't want to bring Adonis down."

Jeremy flinches automatically, and then hates himself for it. Yeah, that was smooth.

The Squip smiles, and it's an awful look.

"I see what's going on. What a beautiful story of forbidden love we have here."

Jeremy's blood turns to ice. He's afraid of the Squip, of course. He's always been afraid.

Now he is terrified.

"Please." He says quietly, not even knowing whether he's begging for Adonis's safety, or his own. Whether there's anything he can really do.

The Squip is still smiling.

"I think that you're under some false beliefs about your role here, Jeremy. You don't get to choose what you do. If I give you an order, you follow it. You are not a person. You are a tool. I made you. I own you. And if a tool won't work... there's no point keeping it around."

"Please. Please don't." He says, wanting to be anywhere but here.

"Don't worry Jeremy. I'm not going to kill you. Not yet anyways. I think there's still a way for you to get me Adonis."

He fights back, of course, but it's hopeless. Jeremy is in the Squips home, surrounded by his weapons, and he can't hide from him. The struggle is quick and futile, and ends with Jeremy, bloody, burned and bruised, thrown on the floor like nothing.

Before he blacks out, the last thing he sees is the Squip staring down at him, eyes cold and merciless.

~

The first surprise is that he wakes up again.

On some level, he'd honestly expected the Squip to just dispose of him and be done with it, despite his words. Maybe he'd hoped for it. But instead, he wakes up to the feeling of being restrained, and opens his eyes to see that there are chains on his wrists, attached to the ceiling of a plain, white room. He's trapped.

That's probably not a great sign.

"Ah, you're awake." The Squip says, sounding entirely too pleased with himself. Jeremy hates him.

"So. Will you obey, and capture Adonis? Or would you rather take his place?"

Jeremy already knows the answer. Jeremy has always known the answer.

"No. I'm not doing this to him."

The Squip nods, probably having expected that answer. He doesn't seem overly displeased.

~

He doesn't know how long the Squip has him. Time blurs together. His life becomes two rooms, the white one where he's tortured, and the dark one where he's left in between. There's no comfort when he comes out this time. Only pain, but it's something, and it's better than the dark and nothing.

Jeremy doesn't fight anymore. There's no point. This is what he deserves for turning to evil, and for failing at even that. This is right.

He thinks a lot when he's in the dark room. About Adonis, who will be safe, and will never know what Tragedy sacrificed for him. About Rich, who will be alone again. About Michael, who will never see his best friend again, and never know what happened. About his father, alone in that house, waiting for a son who is never going to come home.

He's hurt all the people around him just by existing, and he's hurting them more by leaving. There's no winning.

Jeremy gives up.

He's almost come to terms with his fate, and is waiting for the Squip to hurry up and kill him, when he's taken to a third room, and everything changes.

~

Jeremy is brought to another room, and tied to a chair. He doesn’t know what’s going on, and is beyond the point of caring. Maybe it’s the end, maybe it isn’t. It doesn’t matter anymore. He doesn’t have any fight left in him. He’s hit in the face a few times, until his nose is bleeding, and some of the cuts re-open. His mask is placed on. A camera is set up.

“What’s going on?” He asks, suspicious. His first assumption is that this is his execution, broadcasted to the world, because that really seems like something the Squip would do. He doesn’t like the thought of that, his father and Michael having to watch him die, and not even knowing it’s him. Adonis having to watch Tragedy die.

The Squip is smiling. He’s been smiling a lot lately, clearly enjoying himself through the entire ordeal he’s inflicted upon Jeremy. Sadist.

“It’s a solution to two problems. I’m going to get my hands on your replacement, and get Adonis out of my hair, once and for all. And you’re going to help me.”

This isn’t an execution. This is a trap. With Jeremy as the bait.

And Adonis as the target.

He strains against the ropes, but he’s weak from weeks of torture and only getting the bare minimum of food or water. He can’t get himself free, and the Squip is only amused at the sight of him trying.

“No. No! You’re not going to use me for this! I’m not hurting Adonis!” He yells, voice raw and hoarse from all the screaming he’s been doing lately.

“Oh, you don’t have much of a choice. Now be quiet, the grown ups are talking.”

A screen turns on behind the camera, and Jeremy inhales sharply.

Adonis is on the screen, looking like hell. He’s battered, and has clearly been fighting for his life against the Squip’s technology.

“Hello Adonis.” The Squip says, keeping his face out of sight of the camera. “Looking for someone?”

Adonis turns, and stares in open horror. The camera is transmitting, showing him exactly how Tragedy looks right now. It’s probably bad. He wouldn’t know, he hasn’t seen a mirror during this ordeal.

“Tragedy! What have you done to him!?” Adonis yells, horror turning to anger.

“His performance has been… lackluster, lately. Especially where you’re concerned. So I’m considering disposing of him. But I might consider letting him live and go crawling back to his civilian life, if you surrender to me.”

“Adonis, don’t do it. Don’t you dare. I’m not worth it, please don’t.” Tragedy pleads, well aware that he probably sounds and looks pathetic. He may not be helping his case. That’s probably why the Squip is letting him talk.

The Squip grabs him by the hair, yanking his head up, and drawing a hiss of pain from him. Another hand brushes across his face, making him shudder, before yanking his mask off.

Adonis goes pale, and looks like his world just fell apart. Jeremy is mildly offended, because really, he can’t look that bad. Can he?

Yeah, he probably does.

But Adonis is looking straight at him, focusing on Jeremy and only Jeremy. Seeing him with no powers, no mask in the way. Just Tragedy. Just Jeremy.

“Save yourself. Please. Don’t let him have you.” He says, hoping the look on his face is enough to convince Adonis how serious he is.

“It’s your choice.” The Squip says, tone smug.

The broadcast shuts off.

“Don’t you dare hurt him. I- I’ll fucking kill you. I don’t care what happens to me, but you don’t hurt Adonis.” Jeremy hisses, turning in his bindings to glare at the Squip.

“I’m terrified.” The Squip deadpans.

Jeremy is returned to the sensory deprivation room, and is informed he’ll be freed when Adonis surrenders. Great.

~

He’s in there for a long time. More than he’s ever been in the room.

Jeremy goes through the usual cycle of breakdowns, but when he exauhsts himself emotionally, he’s slept three times (the only way to recognize a passage of time), and there is no sign of an end.

So he starts talking.

Not to himself, not really. To people who aren’t there, people that he might never see again.

He has long, rambling one sided conversations with Michael, all the things he’s never been able to say, from stupid things like how Jeremy was the one who borrowed his copy of Bowsers Inside Story and never gave it back, to heavy things like how Michael is the most important person in his life, and Jeremy might have given up so much sooner if it wasn’t for him. That he might love him, maybe not in a desperate whirlwind like with Adonis, but with a steady, constant knowledge that he can’t imagine a life that he’s not sharing with Michael.

He talks to his Dad, telling him that he was always able to see him, and that that’s mattered more than anything. That he always knew his father would accept him for almost everything, maybe even this. That he wishes their last conversation hadn’t been Jeremy yelling at him to put on pants and get over Mom being a piece of shit. That he’s sorry he never spoke up when he saw the bruises.

He talks to Rich about everything they never needed to say. He tells Rich that he forgives him for bringing him into this, that he’s glad he could at least help Rich. He might have only met Rich this year, but there’s something shared between, something hard and painful that they recognize in each other. A constant acknowledgement that the scars on their backs mean something. There’s solidarity between him and Rich, the feeling of keeping no secrets because there just isn’t any need to. He apologizes for not being strong enough to protect him, and for having to leave Rich alone.

He talks to Adonis. Jeremy doesn’t bother begging him not to come save him, seeing no point in that. Instead, he talks about how he really feels. The resentment he had for him at first, and how Adonis was indirectly to blame for Jeremy’s first time in the room. How angry the flirting made him at first, and how shocked he was to find out it was serious. How he fell in love with Adonis over flirting and fistfights, and what kindness the hero was able to show him. How he wouldn’t hand Tragedy over to the police. How he would ask if Tragedy was okay, and sit down and talk with him sometimes. How he understood when Tragedy was angry and needed to pick a fight to vent his frustration and helplessness, and how he would never judge him for all of his choices and mistakes, just accept them and insist that Tragedy was a good person in a bad situation.

He spends most of his time talking, words blurring together, sometimes switching who he’s speaking to mid-sentence, but it keeps him sane. At least, relatively sane. When the Squip returns for him, he still has his mind, and that’s what counts.

~

He’s spent the last however long it’s been mostly curled up in the corner of a small dark room, so he’s about as helpless as a kitten. The Squip has to literally carry Jeremy, his legs stiff and unable to support himself, and his eyes burning so much from the light after so much dark that he can’t even open them.

He wonders where he’s being taken, and suspects that whatever it is, it isn’t the usual cuddling.

Unsurprisingly, he's not brought to be cleaned up, or fed, or cuddled. He's taken to the depths of the Squips lair, to an area he hasn't even been allowed in before. He's bound in wires, the Squip's will making them hold him in place. Jeremy can almost feel the electricity humming through them, and has a bad feeling about where this is going.

"What are you doing." He croaks out, voice almost gone from all the talking he's been doing.

"Well, it seems your disobedience has infected Comedy as well. He and your little boyfriend are making a rescue attempt. So you're either going to watch them surrender, or you're going to die with them. Isn't that fun?"

"Fuck you."

The Squip ruffles his hair, and walks away, almost bouncing. Jeremy is left to sag in his bonds, trying to control his breathing and stay calm.

Then he hears the noises.

It takes a while to be certain, but soon enough he hears what can only be Adonis and Comedy, battling against the Squip's defenses. He makes all of his hideouts fortresses, covered in technology. Weapons only he can use. This hideout is no exception, and the defenses are clearly being directed full force against Comedy and Adonis, whose powers would be useless against them. Jeremy can hear the sound of them fighting against the machines, yelling warnings and strategy to each other. He hopes they come bursting in to save him. He hopes they turn back and save themselves.

What he doesn't want is for their surrender. That's the last thing Jeremy wants, and if they try to give themselves up for his sake, he is going to raise hell to save them. They don't deserve this. Nobody could deserve this.

The sounds of battle draw closer, getting louder and louder, to the point where Jeremy can hear every yell of warning, every grunt, every cry of pain.

"GO FIND TRAGEDY, I'LL HOLD THEM OFF!" Comedy yells, at the top of his lungs. Jeremy can't make out the words of Adonis's reply, just that it's an agreement.

It's a while longer, and then the door bursts open.

"Adonis!" He calls, half warning, half begging, though for what he doesn't know.

And then the electricity starts.

He screams as the wires light up, electricity shocking and burning him, and his world is reduced to nothing but agony and the wires, lasting for what feels like forever before stopping. He hangs limply in his bonds, breathing harshly.

"I could kill him right now, you know. There's only so much the body can take, and his is already at the limit. A high enough voltage would stop his heart. Or I could kill him slowly and painfully. A shock like that for long enough, and he'd die in agony. Submit, and Tragedy goes free." The Squip says, voice echoing around the room, coming from every speaker.

"Don't you dare. Don't you dare sacrifice yourself for me. Run, please just run." Jeremy begs, voice exhausted and broken.

"Like hell! I'm not leaving you, Jeremy!"

...What.

Wait.

What?

"You know who I am? How do you know who I am?" He asks, staring at Adonis in confusion.

"That's not important right now, we need to get you out of those." Adonis says, kneeling in front of Jeremy, and tugging ineffectually at the wires. They're Squip controlled, they're not going to come off unless he wants them to. Jeremy would love to warn Adonis about that, but the one around his neck tightens suddenly, choking him, and cutting off any words he could use.

Adonis takes a moment to realise why he's gone quiet, and then he panics, desperately trying to pull the wire off of Jeremy's neck. But in doing so, he fails to notice some of the more redundant wires restraining him come loose, and Jeremy is unable to warn him.

Until they grab Adonis. Then he notices them. He notices them very quickly.

"This just gets better and better." The Squip says, stepping out of the shadows. Adonis is torn away from Jeremy, more and more wires rising up to hold him down, wrenching his arms behind his back, and forcing him to his knees in front of the Squip. The wire choking Jeremy stops, and he frantically gasps for air.

One of the wires rips Adonis's mask off.

Jerermy's world stops.

"...Michael?" He whispers, staring blankly at his best friends face.

Michael glares at the Squip, and their eyes meet.

"Stop controlling all the machines."

There’s a sudden silence, as the hum of all the machinery and computers that the Squip was controlling, his thousands of eyes and ears and weapons all stopping at once.

“Stop moving.”

Michaels voice is cold, hard and angry as he rises to his feet on shaking legs. Jeremy pulls the wires off of him, now dead and harmless, and slowly pulls himself to his feet.

“Stop breathing.”

The Squip stops breathing.

Jeremy remembers the terror of realising that he’d almost been mind controlled into suffocating himself, way back when he’d first met Adonis. He remembers how Adonis has talked about being terrified of his powers, and hating the control he could exert over people, and never wanting to use them to hurt anyone, not really.

“I’m right. You do make a good villain.” The Squip says, likely using his own persuasion powers to override the command for a moment, before the rise and fall of his chest stops.

Jeremy manages to stand, and stumbles over to Michael.

“Michael. Michael, it’s over.”

Michael doesn’t look at him, but something in his face softens. He closes his eyes, takes a long breath, and opens them again.

“Go into a fucking coma, you piece of shit.” Michael snaps, and the Squip collapses like a puppet whose had its strings cut. Michael sways for a second, and then follows suit, collapsing back to his knees, breathing heavily. Jeremy is quick to join him.

“So… are you okay?” He asks, copying their exchange from on that rooftop so long ago, and flipping the script. Michael’s mouth twitches slightly, clearly noticing.

“No. Not really.” He says, soft, sad, and slightly amused.

“Déjà vu, man. Pretty sure we’ve had this conversation before.” Jeremy says, reaching for his hand.

Michael takes it, and their locked hands feels warm and safe and right.

“Yeah. Hero to villain.”

“You and me.”

“Yo, what the FUCK just happened?” Rich shouts, sounding very pissed off and very confused. Jeremy bites his lip, and rests his forehead on Micheal’s shoulder in an attempt to not giggle. It’s semi successful.

There’s the sound of the door opening

“So, did we win, or – Oh, I see you’re having a moment. I’m gonna just… not be here for a while. Take your time. Use protection.” Rich says, and Jeremy can almost sense finger guns being used at the end.

The door closes again.

Something crashes, and Rich swears violently.

Jeremy loses his fight against the giggling, and cracks up. Michael wraps an arm around him, and holds out until the second crash-swear combo, before he’s laughing as well.

It’s a good moment, Jeremy and Michael holding each other and laughing. There’s a lot that needs to be said between them. A lot of healing needs to happen. But they’re going to be alright. It’s going to be better from here on out. No more secrets.

It feels good. Feels warm.

…Wait.

Too warm.

God damn it.

“I feel warm.” Jeremy says, more than a little concerned.

“I feel warm too.” Michael says, staring at Jeremy like he’s the only thing in the world. Which is undeniably nice, and very flattering, but there may be bigger priorities right now.

“No, I think there’s a fire.”

There’s a knock on the door.

“HEY LADS, SORRY TO BREAK IT UP, BUT I MAY HAVE DONE SOMETHING!” Rich calls voice mildly panicked.

“We… we should probably go.” Jeremy says, holding back the urge to break out laughing again.

“Yeah. Now would be good.” Michael agrees, a smile playing across his lips, and god, Jeremy is going to marry this man.

After they leave the burning building. And possibly date for a bit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> MAN that was long. Poor Jeremy. Don't worry, next chapter is alllll healing. Nothing but recovery, it's gonna be great. And gay. So, so gay. These dumb nerds are going to be happy god damn it I WILL MAKE UP FOR WHAT I HAVE DONE TO THEM.


End file.
